Cross-country skier wins Norwegian 10,000m title in running shoes

Therese Johaug's time of 32:20.86 was a new championship record and the 5th fastest time run by a Norwegian woman

Madeleine Kelly August 10, 2019

Therese Johaug is a multi-time Nordic skiing world champion who ran the 10,000m for the first time on August 4 at the Norwegian National Championships. Johaug’s time of 32:20.86 was a new championship record and the fifth fastest time run by a Norwegian woman.

According to NBC Sports, Johaug returned to nordic skiing in the winter of 2019 following an 18-month ban for testing positive for the steroid clostebol (used to treat cold sores) in 2016. Johaug claims the use of the steroid, found in her lip cream, was unintentional.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0wCeKQocS5/

Johaug told Norwegian media outlet TV2 that she hadn’t been on the track in 11 years. The skier-turned-runner was on World Championship standard pace through 3,000m, but fell off towards the end of the event. She finished just over 30 seconds from the 2019 10,000m standard of 31:50.00, and did so in running shoes as opposed to spikes.

Johaug isn’t the only example of a cross-country skier who successfully made the transition to the track from skiing training. Anne Marie Comeau runs for the University of Laval who’s also an Olympian in cross-country skiing.

Comeau holds personal bests of 1:16 for the half marathon and 2:43 for the marathon. She was the 2019 winner of the Banque Scotia Montreal 21K.

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